The Truth About Cars » commenting policyhttp://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news.Thu, 30 Jul 2015 12:00:39 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news.The Truth About CarsnoThe Truth About Carseditors@ttac.comeditors@ttac.com (The Truth About Cars)2006-2009The Truth About CarsThe Truth About Cars » commenting policyhttp://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/themes/ttac-theme/images/logo.gifhttp://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
“You Can’t Say That!” “Watch Me.”http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/08/you-cant-say-that-watch-me/
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/08/you-cant-say-that-watch-me/#commentsTue, 21 Aug 2012 10:45:31 +0000http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=457447Many years ago, when I was a partner in a Madison Avenue ad agency, our client Swissair asked us to come up with an ad that asked affluent American Express holders to do their Christmas shopping in Zurich, Switzerland. I wrote “Merry Swissmas” on a sheet of paper. My Art Director Juergen Dahlen came up […]

Many years ago, when I was a partner in a Madison Avenue ad agency, our client Swissair asked us to come up with an ad that asked affluent American Express holders to do their Christmas shopping in Zurich, Switzerland. I wrote “Merry Swissmas” on a sheet of paper. My Art Director Juergen Dahlen came up with a picture. It was pasted on foamcore, was run over to the Swissair offices and met with applause. Two weeks later, I had a lady from American Express on the line.

“Christmas! You can’t say that!”

“It’s Swissmas.”

“Come on, I know what you wanted to say.”

“So, what should I say?”

“You know. Happy holidays.”

“Alright. I’ll change the headline to Merry Swolidays.”

“You are kidding me.”

I picked up the phone and called Swissair. They could not believe it. Enraged, they called up Amex and called off the promotion.

“Under the guise of being sensitive to “feelings,” political correctness has succeeded in effectively censoring any uncomfortable “truths” that do not comport with liberal orthodoxy.”

“Political correctness is an approved form of censorship. Based on emotional appeals at the expense of reason, political correctness mandates that inconvenient truths or facts be swept under the carpet. Or else. Free speech, guaranteed to all Americans under the First Amendment, is on its way to becoming moot.”

In fulfilling its mandate, TTAC steps on sensitivities all day long. Truth hurts, especially feelings. By now, TTAC must have hurt the sensitivities of just about any car owner, we have been accused of being biased against domestics and imports, our choice of pictures provides never-ending fuel for flames.

Would we listen to it, we probably would be flamed for delivering a bland appliance blog. If hurt feelings would stop us from writing, then we would have closed TTAC long ago. We won’t. Attempts to censor TTAC will receive the cold shoulder. Incessant attempts will be met with a ban.

The policy also disallows ‘what not to write’ requests. TTAC editors choose what to write and what not to write, just like TTAC readers choose what to read and what not to read.

Likewise, the policy disallows interference with administrative actions: “Backtalk after an administrative action usually means a quick end to a commenter’s career on TTAC.” And: “If you write ‘I will probably get banned for this,’ you probably will.”

The policy disallows threats.

When a thread gets closed, it is because flames already were too high, and to avoid a spreading to other parts of TTAC. Hijacking of other threads in order to continue the flaming is disrespectful to other commenters, it also interferes with an explicit administrative action.

Several of these policies were ignored yesterday. A warning was issued, the FAQ was pointed out. After the warning, one commenter violated several of these policies in the course of four lines. This commenter is no longer with us.

This commenter threatened to complain to TTAC’s parent company. While anyone is free to complain anywhere, it should be known that TTAC thoroughly enjoys full editorial freedom. Nobody of TTAC’s owners has ever told us what to write and what not to write. Which sets them apart from some commenters.

]]>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/08/you-cant-say-that-watch-me/feed/126How To Stop Commenting On TTAC, And Walk Away With A Nice Hathttp://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/07/how-to-stop-commenting-on-ttac-and-walk-away-with-a-nice-hat/
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/07/how-to-stop-commenting-on-ttac-and-walk-away-with-a-nice-hat/#commentsSat, 21 Jul 2012 13:28:02 +0000http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=453682We love our commenters. We hate to see them go. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made. This is to announce the untimely departure of dogsledder54 a.k.a. “scarey”, and of curbie138 from the pages of TTAC. They were banished. What happened? The matter turned into a story, because there is a moral to it. It illustrates perfectly […]

We love our commenters. We hate to see them go. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made. This is to announce the untimely departure of dogsledder54 a.k.a. “scarey”, and of curbie138 from the pages of TTAC. They were banished. What happened?

The matter turned into a story, because there is a moral to it. It illustrates perfectly the dos and don’ts of commenting on TTAC.

“I think we have sufficient information to assign you the title of ‘Moron’. Murder, assault, and arson are acceptable if you have workplace grievances ? Not hardly. Not anywhere.”

Can you spot the problem? Correct. Whether murder, assault, and arson are acceptable if you have workplace grievances can be debated all day long at TTAC. But it must be done without calling someone names. It’s that simple.

Also banned was curbie138. Not because he posted that he thinks that workplace grievances can justify murder, assault and arson, under certain circumstances. That’s his opinion. People will oppose it. At TTAC, we fight for the right to voice any opinion. That right does not include the right to call someone a “moron” again. Curbie 138 was banned for making personal attacks.

In both cases, the comments were well within the bounds of TTAC’s commenting policy – except for a little word: “Moron.” This site is wide open to any arguments, even if they are as extreme as the above. This site is not open to rude behavior and an absence of manner.

Other sites would maybe edit the comment. We don’t. We are amongst grown-ups. People are responsible for what they do and say. Moderators are not here to clean up other peoples’ messes.

And what’s with the hat? To mark the fact that this commenter may no longer comment, the avatar may be changed. The one in the picture seems appropriate.

In short: You can say whatever you want at TTAC, but you may not be rude and uncivil. If you can’t say it without being insulting, better don’t touch that keyboard.

No more dunces!

P.S.: Also, I recommend resisting the urge to call TTAC editors a bunch of goose-stepping control freaks,as evidenced by the Teutonic masthead. First, it would be racism, and punishable by bannage as per the TTAC commenting policy. Second, I don’t know either how that happened, maybe Farago had a black leather fetish. Third, be advised that about half of them are Jewish, and they would be upset if you bunch them in with the other Nazis.